Resurrection Day

Of all of Jesus’ miracles, His resurrection is the greatest. His voice calmed the seas and quieted the storms. He walked on water. He rose others from the grave, yet His rising Himself from the tomb ensures that His death was not in vain and gives assurance that there is life after this life we currently live. Without His empty tomb, we have no hope.

Jesus is God, and there was a purpose for His coming to this earth, dying, and resurrecting from the grave. Let us look into the reason He did what He did.

Sin occurs whenever we disobey God. God gave us His instructions in a book called the Bible. Everyone has sinned. We’ve done things God does not want us to do, said things God does not want us to say, and had thoughts and attitudes God does not want us to have.

We view sin in varying degrees. In other words, we think some sins are not as bad as others. For instance, we tend to believe that telling a lie is not as bad as murder. However, God sees all sin the same (James 2:10). To illustrate this, I often ask the congregation, “How many banks do you have to rob to be a bank robber?” They will answer, “One.”

“Then how many sins do you need to commit to be a sinner?” The point gets across. Not everyone has committed murder or robbed a bank, but all of us have told at least one lie in our lifetime, had an impure thought, held a grudge, desired something that is not ours, and the list goes on. We are all sinners.

Jesus came to save us from our sins. Matthew 1:21, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

The Bible is clear: Blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sins, the atonement for the soul (Hebrews 9:22; Leviticus 17:11). But, since we are sinners, our blood is tainted with sin. For the sacrifice to be effective, the blood must be sinless.

If this is the case, then why don’t we sacrifice animals like the Israelites did in the Old Testament? Those sacrifices were a picture of a coming perfect sacrifice, or as the Bible puts it, “a shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1). If there is any argument on whether animal sacrifice could wash away the sins of the human race, Hebrews 10:4 is about as blunt as you can get, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Jesus’ ministry begins at His baptism. As He approaches the Jordan River, John the Baptist sees Him coming and proclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The perfect, sinless sacrifice has arrived – Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

Jesus spent the next three years preaching, teaching, and performing miracles. Then, the appointed time came for Him to die. His death is the sacrifice for our sins.

Isaiah 53:5-6, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healded. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Galatians 1:4, “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”

Ephesians 5:2, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”

1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

The blood of Jesus Christ washes our sins away. What good is that if we live our lives and that is it? If there is no afterlife, if there is no coming judgment, then we could live our lives and rot back to dust after we die.

The resurrection of Christ gives proof that there is life after death.

But, since there is an eternity, we need our sins erased. The difference between having the blood of Christ wash our sins away and not having His blood applied is as vast as heaven and hell.

If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven?”

Your first answer is what you trust in for your salvation. If your answer is, “I’ve been baptized, ” then you are trusting in your baptism to provide your salvation. If you answer, “I am a good person, ” then you are resting your salvation on the fact that you have not done something super heinous.

If we could obtain salvation by some church ritual, like baptism, or by being good people, why did Jesus sacrifice Himself? If eternal life could be obtained by any other means than the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then His death, burial, and resurrection would never have happened.

We must trust in His sacrificial death, in which His blood washes away our sins. We must trust in it so much that it changes our lives and brings us to repentance.

John 3:17-18, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Happy Resurrection Day, for He is not here; He is risen.